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So, this is a polyergus bilateral gynandromorph! ½ worker caste (red), ½ alate (black). The mandibles, eyes, single wing, and antennae are the more obvious caste traits reflected in each half of this individual. Found them shortly after leaving the colony possibly (I found one a few feet away).
See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124878696
& https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124879042

Impresionante espécimen capturado dentro de los limites del Refugio de Vida Silvestre Manglares El Morro, por un pescador como pesca incidental. Para el área protegida representa el primer registro, pero no el único para esta especie.

Photo 1:
Well Dang!
I'd been eagerly watching my owl box since an owl visited it for one day in mid October. Only squirrels had occupied it since. At dusk yesterday I got excited when I saw a face with white on it which would rule out a squirrel. Grabbed my camera, turned on the flash since it was so dark. Dang it, that is not an owl either. Has to be a pretty small possum to get in that opening.
Photo 2:
Taking The Slow Elevator Down
When the interloper saw me, it sank out of sight in slow motion, was hilarious to watch. I made all kinds of interesting and coaxing sounds but it refused to look out again. This morning no sign of it. Back to hoping that someday a screech owl couple will move in & raise babies.

Clung to the beak of a Whimbrel that was foraging in the seaweed, the bird could not dislodge it, after a couple of minutes the isopod dropped off. The Whimbrel continued to feed with the isopod on board.

RLC726 Photo 2 by Bitty Roy, the rest by Bryn Dentinger; used with permission. This fungus-killed wasp is biting the edge of a leaf and was basically at eye level on a leaf on the trail to the Los Cedros river, right after going out the gate from HQ.

Identified as Beauveria acridophila based on morphology (yellow, claviform, echinulate stromata up to 3 cm long) and because the insect host is a grasshopper other than Colpolopha sp. (the similar Beauveria locustiphila specializes on Colpolopha); see Sanjuan et al. 2014 (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3852/13-020). Also see photo in Sourell et al. 2019 “Entomopathogenic fungi of the Rio Napo lowlands” (https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/rapid-color-guides-pdfs/1136_ecuador_entomopathogenic_fungi_of_rio_napo_2.pdf).

This tiny, striking Xylaria species, with its nearly naked perithecia, has become the poster child for Xylariaceae research in Los Cedros. Roo and I thought they looked a bit like these in cross section:

These are Kodama, the forest spirits of Japanese folklore, as portrayed by Hayao Miyazaki in his epic 1997 film, Princess Mononoke.

This is likely the first record of X. tucumanensis from anywhere outside Argentina, and as such, significantly extends the species’ known range.

Read more about this enigmatic Xylaria and check out an extensive key to the genus for northern Argentina in the following paper:

Hladki, A.I.; Romero, A.I. 2010. A preliminary account of Xylaria in the Tucuman province, Argentina, with a key to species from the Northern Provinces. Fungal Diversity. 42:79-96

Substrate: corticate standing dead wood (post), ~3 cm diam (same as Observation 264296)

Habitat: Northwest Andean montane forest (NT0145)

Collector(s): D. Newman & R. Vandegrift

Collection #: RLC1378

Photomicrography and molecular data forthcoming

T. m. propinquus Ridgway 1877, includes T. m. aleucus Oberholser 1974 (Browning 1974b). Breeds from southern British Columbia east to southwestern Saskatchewan south to southern California and northern Baja California and through Rocky Mountains to western Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and southwestern Nuevo León [type locality = Laramie Peak, Wyoming]; partially migratory, with many overwintering south to Baja California, Sonora, Arizona, southern Great Plains, and central Texas. Like T. m. migratorius but paler overall, averages larger; white on outer rectrix <4 mm. Breast duller (less ochraceous) and darker than T. m. phillipsi.

Cyanocitta cristata harassing Pantherophis alleghaniensis. Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC, USA.

There were at least half a dozen blue jays raising a ruckus high up in the trees. I had no idea what it was all about until I reviewed the pictures and saw the snake slithering through the branches. The jays must have been trying to protect nearby nests from the predator.

Cockroach Polyzostera pulchra
The native cockroach was sitting on a low shrub near some trigger plants we had been admiring.

What a magnificent cockroach! Notice the spotted leg, a feature also found on P. cuprea and P. mitchelli.

~40mm
Photo: Fred